Transparent Language Blog
Menu
Search

Archive by Author

Small Talk is a Big Deal: Perceptions of Chit-chat Around the World Posted by on Apr 14, 2014 in Archived Posts

Whether you’re meeting with a business partner or just trying to fit in with the locals on vacation, how you approach small talk is an immediate indicator of your cultural knowledge. The first few sentences you exchange may set the tone for the rest of your conversation or meeting, so it’s important to start…

Continue Reading

Train Your Brain: 10 Memory Boosters for Language Learners Posted by on Mar 26, 2014 in Archived Posts

The chorus of naysayers who claim their “memory is too bad” to learn a language is about to be silenced forevermore. Our memories naturally decline as we age, and some of us are just pretty darn forgetful to begin with. At 24 years old, the only phone number I have memorized is 867-5309. Shameful, I…

Continue Reading

Are Some Languages Harder to Learn than Others? Posted by on Mar 10, 2014 in Archived Posts

hardest languages to learn

What’s the easiest language to learn? Why is Chinese harder to learn than Spanish?  How hard would it be to learn Icelandic? Considering that I spend most of my day lurking through the depths of the language-learning communities on various social media networks, I see a lot of questions about the relative difficulty of learning…

Continue Reading

Can Learning a Language Change Your Life? Posted by on Mar 3, 2014 in Archived Posts

What’s the worst excuse not to learn a new language? “I just don’t need to.” Okay, fair enough. Maybe your everyday life doesn’t require any knowledge of a foreign language at the moment. But that doesn’t mean a new language holds no value for you. And if you’re guilty of thinking so, it’s probably because…

Continue Reading

8 of the Most Translated Stories in the World Posted by on Feb 24, 2014 in Archived Posts

Looking for a good read in your target language? Chances are one of these stories will be available, considering they are among the most translated stories in the world. Here are my top 8 picks for foreign language reading materials, from children’s books to comics to full-length classics. 1. Harry Potter Series This seven-part book…

Continue Reading

You Know You Love Language Learning When… Posted by on Feb 19, 2014 in Archived Posts

A few weeks ago, I posted this image to our Facebook pages and asked you to fill in the blank. Here’s a few of my favorite responses: …when you stop relying on Google translate to do your homework. …your social life consists of asking others if they speak Arabic also. …you find the phrase “Il…

Continue Reading

Heehaw or Eeyore: Onomatopoeias in Foreign Languages Posted by on Feb 3, 2014 in Archived Posts

WHAM! One of my favorite aspects of a language is onomatopoeia—the words assigned to specific sounds, like the woof woof of your childhood dog, or the vroom vroom of a new car. Part of the reason onomatopoeic words differ among languages is the availability of sounds in each language. A diving bird obviously can’t make…

Continue Reading

Older posts
Newer posts